Tree Service Questions in Johns Creek, GA

In most cases no, not since 28 July 2025. The city added Section 7 to its Tree Preservation Ordinance, allowing any tree to be removed from a developed, residentially zoned, single-family detached lot without a removal permit, provided the tree is not in a protected zone. A tree posing an immediate threat of falling on the main dwelling is covered too, again outside protected zones.

The critical root zone plus three feet, any area required to stay as open space, all landscape strips and buffers including zoning buffers and state water buffers and tributary buffers, the Chattahoochee River Corridor, and designated tree save areas.

In fair or better condition and at or above 32 inches diameter at breast height for a large hardwood or softwood such as oak, hickory, yellow poplar, beech or sweetgum. 12 inches for small native flowering trees, meaning dogwood, redbud and sourwood. Pines of any size no longer qualify.

32 inches. The 27, 24 and 10 inch figures come from the city's older self-evaluation flow chart, which predates the July 2025 amendment and is still circulating. Some local competitors are still quoting it. The current Administrative Guidelines are the authority.

Removing a healthy specimen tree requires permission and recompense, which in Johns Creek means planting one 15-gallon or 1 to 1.5 inch caliper tree for each one removed. Doing it without permission is listed in the ordinance among the violations that draw an immediate stop-work order.

No. City rules are explicit that property owners may not remove trees outside their own property, which includes a neighbour's lot and the public right-of-way.

Most removals in Johns Creek land between $1,100 and $2,100, which is a typical 60-foot pine with clear access. That works out around $18 to $35 per foot of tree height. Height sets the base number. Proximity to the house, a tight side yard, overhead power lines or a crane lift all move it up. We measure and quote on site, in writing, before any cutting starts.

Around $3 to $7 per inch of stump diameter, measured across the cut face at ground level. A wide root flare, rock in the soil, or a stump pressed against a wall or driveway raises it. Small stumps carry a minimum charge, so one 8-inch stump on its own works out dearer per inch than five booked together on the same visit.

Because the number depends on what the objective is. Cleaning deadwood out of a mature oak and reducing the crown on the same tree are different jobs at different prices. We would rather come and look than guess at you.

No, including the part where we tell you the tree does not need to come down.

Get people out from under it, including the rooms below the impact. If any line is down or the tree is touching one, stay back and call 911 and Georgia Power. Photograph everything from several angles before anything is moved, because your insurer will want to see where it landed.

Take your time. The Georgia Department of Insurance and Safety Fire told a 2024 House study committee that the state sees an influx of out-of-state tree crews after storms, with price gouging, high-pressure sales tactics and false claims of endorsement by state and federal emergency agencies.

In most cases yes. Georgia's Fair Business Practices Act gives a three business day right to cancel a written contract for goods or services over $25 bought at your home. Put it in writing and keep a copy.

A broken limb caught in the canopy rather than fallen. Hangers are what injure people in the days after a storm, because they come down with no warning and no wind to trigger them.

No. Fulton County is one of 54 counties inside the Georgia EPD Summer Open Burning Ban, which prohibits residents and businesses from burning yard and land-clearing debris from May 1 through September 30. A separate statewide ban on burning household garbage runs all year. Outside the summer window most burn types still need a Georgia Forestry Commission permit.

Late winter, roughly January into February before bud break, for structural work on hardwoods. Oaks especially, since the beetle activity that spreads oak wilt is lowest when it is cold. Dead limbs can come off in any month.

Loblolly pine is the dominant residential tree in this part of Fulton County. It reaches 80 to 100 feet on a root plate that spreads wide but shallow through red clay rather than anchoring deep. Saturate that clay in a thunderstorm and the entire tree can tip, roots and all.

Maybe not. Water oaks grow fast and are short-lived, and they commonly hollow out from internal decay somewhere around 50 to 70 years while the canopy still looks full. Conks at the base or a hollow sound when the trunk is struck tell you more than the leaves do.

Yes, carefully. Anything within 2,000 feet of the Chattahoochee's banks falls under the state Metropolitan River Protection Act, and Johns Creek is bounded to the south by the river. Living trees cannot be taken out of a stream buffer at all. A dead one needs a written arborist report first.

Georgia does not license tree care work, so nobody in this state holds one. A House study committee recommended creating a licensing programme under the Department of Agriculture in December 2024 and no law has followed. Columbus is the only Georgia city that requires its own licence. Treat any company advertising a Georgia tree licence with suspicion.

A private professional credential, not a state licence. It matters here for one specific reason: Johns Creek requires a written report from an ISA-certified arborist to remove a tree from a buffer, including photographs, a site plan and the arborist's certification number.

Ask for the scope in writing with the debris removal spelled out, ask what happens to the stump, and ask for a certificate of insurance sent to you directly by the carrier rather than handed over as a photocopy. Georgia does not require tree companies to carry liability cover, so it is on you to check.

Yes, unless you want to keep it. Rounds left for firewood take a little off the price. Everything else is chipped and hauled out.

Johns Creek and the ring around it: Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton, Duluth, Suwanee, Peachtree Corners, Berkeley Lake, Norcross and Cumming. No travel surcharge inside that area.